Life Snapshops: A scrapbook
by Neph Champion
Summary: I've decided to archive all the snippets of The Life and Times of Namikaze Minato in one place to make it easier to find them all. Not in Chronological order! Chapter Two: We get to live a day in Kushina's shoes.
1. An Evening in the Life of Minato

Title: An Evening in the Life of Namikaze Minato

Idea: An Exert that takes place during The Life and Times of Namikaze Minato.

Reason: I find myself having a bit of trouble writing one of my fics. No worries, the ones up will be updated as regularly as possible. I am writing a fic revolving around Minato. Right now I am still writing his childhood in the Ninja Academy and my mind keeps jumping to where he is a Jounin and already teaching Kakashi (and sometimes Rin and Obito) hopefully this will help get my mind in gear. Don't expect too many of these and expect to read the scenes in the flashbacks in greater detail, because they are going into the full fic.

Summery: Minato comes home after a long day of being the Hokage and spends time with his fiancée and student.

Disclaimer: No, I don't own anything, except maybe the nicknames.

Family Dinner

Minato came home after a long day at the Hokage Tower. He was tired, but not bone tired as he had been during the war. He was looking forward to having dinner with his fiancée, Uzumaki Kushina. "Uzu-hime, [1] Tadaima." He called into the quiet house. He could sense her chakra close by, and hoped that she wasn't trying to cook again. Why was it that she could make any flavor of Ramen perfectly but everything else she made… _always_ tasted like Ramen?

He poked his head into the kitchen and sighed in relief when he found that she wasn't there and nothing was taken out or in the sink. She must be in the living room. He knew that she spent a lot of time lying on the couch, her feet were swelling now and it made it hard for her to get around because of the pain. She'd hadn't even wanted to go on maternity leave but after her feet had started to ache after just coming down the stairs from their bedroom she had given in.

His Sensei would not be back in the Village for at least several more days but that was fine, he had Kakashi guarding his five month pregnant Fiancée. Kakashi's chakra signature was also in the living room. That was probably why she hadn't tried to cook him dinner. Not that he didn't appreciate the gesture or thought. It was just that she had very… limited cooking skills. Her Ramen was to die for though. Better than Ichiraku's even. But he didn't want that tonight.

According to the layout of the house; the living room was right behind the stairwell to the second floor, next to the library. Kakashi and Kushina knew he was here, Kakashi probably wanted something edible for dinner. Minato chuckled quietly as he walked into the kitchen. It was a bit late for dinner, but he could work with that.

Minato pulled out the ingredients for Teriyaki beef and Chicken. [2] Thankfully Kushina's cravings weren't the strangest things ever… But he made sure that some other toppings and prepared some side dishes that she had been asking for, for a while now. As the chicken, Beef and sauce simmered, he put the sides together in a visually pleasing way. Minato tasted the main dishes one last time before calling Kakashi into the kitchen to taste test for him. He'd learned earlier in Kushina's ten-month gestation period that her taste buds were not working quite right so she couldn't taste test for him until their little Naruto was born.

Minato smiled, thinking back on that day, just before Jiraiya-sensei left for the mission. His sensei's book was amazing, to bad it didn't sell. The main character was such an amazing person. He and Kushina had decided right away that they would name their baby Naruto, regardless of gender. "That reminds me… We haven't asked about gender yet…" Minato certainly wanted to know.

"You called Sensei?" Kakashi asked as he came into the kitchen.

"Oh yes Kakashi," Minato smiled at his student/unofficial son. "I need you to taste the Beef and Chicken, I'm pretty sure they're finished."

Kakashi took a small sample of each of the dishes. "I'd say they are."

Minato nodded, taking the meat off the heat and arranged it on two separate plates. Minato slapped Kakashi's hand (which was holding a pair of chopsticks) lightly. [3] "Go set the table while I get Uzu-hime, ne? And don't even think about pilfering any of the beef…"

"H-hai, Sensei…" Kakashi ran off to set the table as Minato went to get his fiancée. He knew better than to try and sneak an extra taste. His Sensei was _scary_!

Minato stopped in the doorway and watched Kushina for a minute. She was glowing. But then, she had always glowed. He cleared his throat to get her attention.

"Mi-kun [4], you're home!" She gushed, leaping from the couch.

Minato caught her deftly. "So I am, Ku-chan [5]. Uzu-hime, dinner is ready. Would you like me to carry you?"

"Yes please! My feet are aching!" She complained.

"Then how about I give you a foot massage afterwards?" Minato asked with a pleased grin as he swept her off her feet and carried her into the dining room.

The look she gave him said it all. He chuckled, brushing his nose against hers affectionately. He was so in love with her. He had loved her since that day in the Academy. He'd gone out of his way to get the best grades and scores possible to impress her. He'd shown off his skills, just for her.

His plan had backfired, to say the least, _epically_. Instead of impressing her, she had resented him. Everything came to him so easily, but she floundered. And every time he tried to offer her help, which she needed, she brushed him off thinking that he was just trying to show off some more. Where he could make five Bunshin easily, She could only make one, and that one… _always_ looked dead. All his showing off got him, way a pissed off crush and a following of fan girls!

Being a young Namikaze Todd though, with his eyes on the Vixen he wanted, Namikaze didn't give up. Not until they got what they wanted. He had wanted to marry Kushina, have a bunch of kids with her and become Hokage.

He remembered quite clearly, his introduction when Jiraiya had asked for it:

(Flashback no Jutsu)

"Ok Gakis [6], Introduce yourselves." The booming voice of Jiraiya-sensei, a man with long white hair commanded.

"What should we say Sensei [7]?" Minato's friend and rival Uchiha Fugaku [17] asked.

"Well, tell me your names, likes, dislikes, hobbies and dreams or goals to start with. If you want to add anything in like a little bit of family history that's fine." Jiraiya explained. "How about I give you an example by going first?"

"Go ahead Sensei." Hiashi [17], another of Minato's friends answered.

Jiraiya nodded. "My name is Jiraiya; you may call me Jiraiya-sansei or Sensei if you like. A few things that I like are a bit too mature for you but I will say that I like traveling and leave it at that alright? I dislike being hit for no reason and when Tsunade-hime is mad at me. I have three hobbies, two of which I can't tell you because of your ages. The one I can say is that I am a writer. My dream is to find a child and teach him to change the world. A few random facts about myself are these: My Sensei was Sandaime-sama, one of my teammates is the granddaughter of the Shodai and that I have written and published one book so far [8]." He pulled out three copies and handed them out. "It hasn't been released yet and I'd like an opinion on how well you think it'll do please. You don't have to read it now."

He sat back, "Blondie, how about you go first?"

"Ok Sensei!" Minato answered. "My name is Namikaze Minato, I really like Uzumaki Kushina, cooking, training and seals. I dislike it when Ku-chan is mad at me and the Uchiha and Hyuuga heads, they're stuffy old foggies! My hobbies are studying seals and trying to impress Uzu-hime. My dreams for the future are to marry Kushina and have several kids with her and to become the Yondaime Hokage…"

(Kai!)

Jiraiya-sensei had only laughed and asked if he was a fan boy or something as his life seemed to revolve around Kushina. He had answered negatively.

Now, he had accomplished two of his goals. He was now the Yondaime Hokage and he was going to marry the girl of his dreams. Their first child was even on the way. The wedding was all planned out now they were just waiting for Naruto. Minato didn't care if Naruto was a girl or a boy. His dreams were coming together perfectly.

He gently placed Kushina in her seat and served her and Kakashi before serving himself. Then he also sat.

"Itadekimasu!" The three chorused quietly before digging in.

"So, Mina-kun [9], how was your day?"

Minato smiled. "Rather boring without either you or Kakashi-kun there to liven things up a bit…. Oh, let's see… I had three meeting, one with the counsel, one with the advisers and one with Shimura Danzou. The paperwork was relatively light and I got everything done this morning. Then I headed down to man the mission desk and had to deal with whiny Genin all afternoon. I had no time for lunch so I am starving." Minato grinned sheepishly.

"You know I would have made some Ramen for you and sent it over with Kakashi if I had known…" Kushina told him.

Minato shook his head. "Kakashi is the only one I really trust with your safety in the village right now. Jiraiya-sensei will be back in a few days and Rin is due back sometime tomorrow morning."

Kushina sighed. "Minato…"

"No Kaa-san [10], it's alright…" Kakashi told her quietly. Looking after his unofficial second mother was no chore and loved being able to be near his unborn sibling. That tiny chakra was the most precious thing in the world to him, well, him and Rin.

"Fine…" Kushina sighed. She still didn't like it.

"You know we only want to protect you and Naruto." Minato reassured her. Her safety came first; even the village was a distant second to Kushina and Naruto right now. That changed when he left the estate for work, but even then his growing family was a very close second.

"I know…" Kushina sighed smiling; she loved hearing him say that.

She used to think that he was a flaky girly-boy jerk show off [11] that was looking for attention. She couldn't believe that she had once thought that he was conceited. But he had been _so_ annoying…

(Flashback no Jutsu)

It was her first day in the Academy. She was starting late so she wasn't sure how much she had missed during her move to Konoha. That made her really nervous. She knocked slightly timidly on Umino Mauri's [12] classroom door. What if she was so far behind that Mauri-sensei sent her to the class under this one?

Inside the classroom, Mauri-sensei smiled at the knock. "Class, we have a new student." She turned to the door. "Come in please."

A small redhead with long red hair and amazing lilac eyes opened the door and peeked in. "A-are you Umino Mauri-sensei?" she asked in a soft demure tone of voice.

From his seat, Minato could already hear his neighbors calling her unfavorable names because of her hair. He turned to the girls sitting behind him and shot glares at them, causing them to shut their mouths. Minato turned back to admire the newest addition to his class. She would be a really lovely Vixen when she grew older and it looked like he was the only one who saw it. Minato could see her potential and the power she would grow into. Then and there he decided that this Vixen would be his.

"Yes. I am Mauri-sensei. Are you the new student that just moved to Konoha?" She asked.

"Y-yes Sensei."

"Come here and introduce yourself to the class please, and then each student will introduce themselves and tell you a bit about themselves." Mauri told her with a smile.

Kushina nodded, walking a bit timidly to her Sensei's side. Then she turned to the class and bowed. "Good morning," she straightened up. "I am Uzumaki Kushina. I came from Uzu no Kuni and my favorite food is Ramen. I enjoy learning about seals and training. My great-great Aunt is none other than Uzumaki Mito-sama, the wife of the Shodai. I am pleased to meet you all, please take good care of me." She bowed again.

"Thank you Kushina-chan." Mauri told her. "Amani, why don't you start us off? Tell Kushina your name some likes and dislikes your hobbies and goals for the future?"

Finally, Minato was the last student to go. "Hi Ku-san, I am Namikaze Minato, I like the color blue [13], cooking training and seals. I dislike those that make fun of others for no reason and those who judge without knowing someone. My hobbies include studying seals and trying new recipes from my family cookbook. My dream is to become the Yondaime Hokage." Minato told her, silently adding: 'And my secret dream is to marry you and have several kids with you.'

(Kai!)

"I still can't figure out how you got so good at cooking, you're better than I am…"

Minato sent Kakashi a sharp look, reminding his student not to say anything. With Kushina's hormones all out of wack because of her pregnancy, she was just as likely to laugh at the joke [14] as kill them both for it. "But Uzu-hime… your Ramen is to die for…" Minato tried to placate her.

She gave him a look and then smiled. "Thank you Mi-kun…"

The conversation then changed to safer topics. And after dinner Kakashi was sent to bed as Minato sent his fiancée back on the couch in the living room to give her that foot massage that he had promised her. After an hour of the three of them sitting there Minato turned to Kakashi. "Get to bed Kakashi, Ninja or not you are still a grow boy who needs his sleep."

"Hai Tou-san[15]." Kakashi got up. "Good night." Then he went up the stairs to his room. [16]

Kushina cuddled into Minato's side. "I love you Minato…"

"Love you too Uzu-hime." Minato told her as his skilled hands massaged the aches and pain out of her swollen feet. "Do you want to know if Naruto is a boy or a girl?"

Kushina looked at him thoughtfully. "Why?"

"Naruto should be developed enough for us to be able to see." Minato explained. "I want to know but if you don't then I'm not going to ask."

"Oh…" Kushina shook her head. "I don't really want to know, even if it would help us decorate Naruto's nursery."

"Alright then, I won't ask at your next appointment." Minato conceded. "Ready to go to bed? I'm tired."

"Carry me?"

If that is what you wish, Uzu-hime."

"Then let's go to bed darling."

(End One-shot)

This is an exert from one of my other fics: it's a family moment before the Kyuubi attack but after the Kannabi Bridge mission. You will probably be reading the flashbacks in another story that I'm writing. That story won't be up for a while because as I've said. I'm not posting anything that isn't finished. That said, this is obviously finished and I hope you all liked it. Please review

[1] Uzu-hime: One of Minato's nicknames for his beloved Kushina. It means Whirlpool Princess, it's a play on where she comes from: Uzu no Kuni (Whirlpool country.)

[2] This is another alteration made, in all of my fics Minato will be a good cook.

[3] This is just Minato acting like a father to a slightly rebellious Kakashi who was reaching over to steal another taste of the Teriyaki Beef, which I've made into his favorite dish.

[4] A nickname Kushina gave Minato.

[5] Another nickname Minato gave Kushina, he gave it to her the first day he met her.

[6] Gaki means brat

[7] This is what Sakura asked Kakashi when they introduced themselves in canon, it just seemed to fit here.

[8] The tale of the Gutsy Ninja I think the only reason it didn't sell really well was because of the title, seeing as both Naruto and his father got lot within its pages until it was finished. Heck, Minato and Kushina liked it so much that that's how Naruto got his _name_!

[9] Another nickname that Kushina has given Minato.

[10] Kushina has been in Kakashi's life almost as long as Minato. (at lease that's what I think, if not just as long.) and since she is his teacher's fiancée… that would make her something like a second mother right?

[11] This is Kushina's first impression of Minato, I also think that's canon. She would think that, especially if he got top scores in everything, being rumored to be the genius of his generation

[12] This is Iruka's mother. He had to have gotten his love of teaching somewhere. We also know that he had ninja parents but we never learn their names, had to call her something.

[13] Minato's favorite color is actually the red of Kushina's hair, but Ninja that like the color red are thought to like blood, so after this, when asked, Minato will always lie.

[14] I know canonly Kushina was supposed to be a wonderful cook. But in all of my stories everything she cooks tastes like Ramen, since we don't know if Naruto got his love of the stuff from his dad or mom.

[15] Kakashi looks up to Minato as a father, usually only calling Minato father when they are alone or with people he trusts.

[16] Minato never let Kakashi live on his own. Who in their right minds would let a six-year-old orphan live on his own? Kakashi has lived in the Namikaze Compound Main house since he was orphaned.

[17] I don't care if it's out of order but I figured that you should know this too. In Minato's genin team picture there are two unknown boys, one with his eyes closed and one with them open but we still can't see their color so I just took two characters that we are familiar with and made them his teammates instead of creating any more OCs.

Neph


	2. Just another Day for Kushina

Idea: An exert from The Life and Times of Namikaze Minato, from Kushina's point of view.

Reason: I'm still having trouble writing the full fic… this will probably be a bit of a character study of Kushina, Minato's girl. This piece takes place when they are genin; this is the 'Kumo Incident' from the kidnappee's point off view.

Other stuff: I read this cool fic where Kushina was Sakumo's (Kakashi's dad's) student. I hope you don't mind that I borrowed the idea.

Warning: This _will_ include one of my OC's and mention a second one, neither are major characters, and I've done my best to make them likeable, _you have been warned_! So if I get a flame about them… you know what? Never mind. I am still developing them, tell me what you think of them and if I need to do something to make them more believable.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto! Gee… don't I wish…

Title: A Day in the Life of Uzumaki Kushina

(One-Shot)

A young girl with deep red hair scrunched her eyes as a ray of light entered her apartment through her window. She opened her eyes slowly and blinked, yawning widely as she sat up. She turned and looked out the window, the day was clear, no clouds in the sky to speak of and the sun was shining brightly. The air was crisp and clean, but when she looked at the clock, she realized that she didn't have much time to get ready. "If I'm late _again_, Sakumo-sensei will _kill_ me!" She muttered as she rushed into her bathroom for a quick shower.

After her shower, Kushina rushed through dressing, there was no time to make breakfast, and she could always stop by the Ramen Stand to get it on the go. Kushina hopped around her apartment on one foot as she pulled on her shorts. She fell at least once. She put her feet into her sandals and started hopping out of the building as she secured her sandals to her feet and her Kunai and Shuriken pouches to her leg. Barely remembered to lock the door, it was a miracle that her apartment hadn't been broken into yet, there have already been several occasions where she'd left the door unlocked. Kushina could hear Kyuubi-san laughing as she finally started to run.

'Yeah, yeah, laugh it up Kyuubi-san…' she sent to the fox as she stopped at Ichiraku's for breakfast. Ramen was the best food _ever_; it had so many flavors that she was sure she'd never get tired of the stuff. Salt though, was her favorite flavor, hands down.

"**Well, if you actually listened to me and set your alarm in the mornings you wouldn't be rushing every day now would you?**" Kyuubi chortled. "**You did remember your gear right?**"

'Of course I remembered Kyuubi-san, dattebane!'

"**Good because I seem to remember Sakumo-san saying that you have a mission after training today.**"[1]

Kushina's eyes lit up. 'That's right! We do!' She couldn't wait! She bolted down her breakfast and after paying and a quick "Thank you!" She ran off to the training grounds. She arrived just in time.

"Kushina… what am I going to do with you?" Sakumo asked exasperated.

"I'm sorry! I slept in a bit tteba…" Kushina laughed nervously, twirling a lock of her bright red hair around a finger.

"And you want to be Hokage…" Sakumo shook his head in clear amusement. "You had better shape up!"

"Yes Sakumo-sensei!"

After a full and tiring morning of training Sakumo-sensei had taken them to pick up a mission, they were in for a treat he assured them. They had gotten lucky and had drawn a C-rank. It was _supposed_ to be a simple escort mission, they were escorting a caravan of merchants to the border of Mizu no Kuni where they would be handed off to a team of Kiri-nin.

"How long until we get to the port Sakumo-sensei?" Mikoto asked the silver haired White Fang curiously. The team had been traveling for about four hours and it felt like they were getting nowhere!

"At this rate…" Hatake Sakumo looked up at the sun, "I'd say we'll get there by nightfall at the earliest. The caravan will be stopping for dinner soon."

Mikoto pouted. "This is going to take forever!"

"Stop complaining Mikoto," Hizashi chided his secret friend, "if we went any faster we would leave the caravan defenseless."

"I suppose so… but going this slow makes me a bit antsy." Mikoto griped to both of her teammates. "It feels like we could be attacked at any moment!"

Kushina shot her best friend a look. "If you just jinxed us Miki, I'll kill you…"

"Sorry Kushina-chan… I didn't mean too…"

Several hours later they had been ambushed, something that they had been expecting, their clients were relatively well off judging by their clothes. But it wasn't bandits; their attackers had been Kumo-nin…

"Miki! This is all your fault!" Kushina shouted as she was carried away by the Kumo-nin. After they were far enough away she was put down and made to walk. When she looked at the sky night had already fallen.

"It should only take us a day to get to the boarder and then another day to get to Kumo boys." The leader said grinning broadly. "We will walk through the night to make it home on time, and then we'll see what Raikage-sama wants with this girl."

Kushina was thankful that her hands were tied behind her back. Every minute or so she pulled out a strand of her bright red hair and dropped it on the ground. 'I hope someone notices my trail of hair soon…' she wasn't one who got scared easily, but the C-Rank had gone to A, she was entitled to be a little fearful.

That had been several hours ago, now she found herself being held in a cave near the boarder. The sun had just begun to rise when they arrived at the cave. Kushina sighed as she yet _again_ went over the events of the previous day in her head. When she had gotten up, the day was beautiful, not a cloud in sight and the sun shining brightly. She had dressed and left her apartment quickly. She had then grabbed a quick breakfast at Ichiraku's Ramen Stand and had met with Sakumo-sensei and her teammates: Hyuuga Hizashi and Uchiha Mikoto. [2]

Kushina sighed, praying that someone would rescue her soon. "Even that flaky show-off Namikaze would be a welcome sight right now…" she muttered, she wanted to go home, she'd been up for nearly twenty four hours and was feeling rather tired. It was hard to tell how much time had passed since arriving at the case this morning and she hadn't slept a wink. Even if she was a Kunoichi and was expected to be able to go for several days without sleep to get a mission done, she was still only ten; she needed her sleep. She didn't know what these Kumo-nin wanted with her, but she could very easily guess. "All they want, no doubt, is another Demon Container… I don't want to deal with this crap! I already have to deal with Kyuubi…"

Kushina was only partially joking. Kyuubi was really great company. He was funny. When she was lonely, he would tell stories about his mate and the clan of humans his troop had bonded with. But he never mentioned a name. She admired that clan. She would have loved to meet them… "Oh great… now I'm getting lonely…" She closed her eyes, holding back a yawn. "I hope someone found that trail of hair I left…" If she fell asleep, she might wake and find herself in Kumo, not at home in Konoha!

"**It is alright little Vixen, we won't be left alone.**"

'If you say so, Kyuubi-san…' Kushina thought back to him. He was just trying to comfort her and she really appreciated it. "How did I end up getting kidnapped again? And why the heck did the day have to turn out so badly?" There hadn't been any warnings at all, not even a shiver down her spine to indicate foreboding!

Kyuubi didn't answer, but that was alright, she hadn't really expected him to. She knew how it had happened; she had gotten careless and hadn't been as observant as she should have been. "Some Kunoichi I am. If I can't watch my own back how am I going to protect a whole village? How am I going to be Hokage?" She muttered.

There was suddenly an explosion near her location. Then there was shouting and the sound of fighting. Kushina hoped that it was her rescue party. The loudness of the noise chased away her fatigue, for now at least. She would have tried to get out on her own, but her restraints were too tight and the knots to well done. Kushina didn't dare make a sound. What if it was Iwa and not a Konoha team? With war on the brink of being declared nowhere really felt safe.

Kushina's head shot up when she heard screams. She was sure that her captors were dying. "Please help me…" she nearly whimpered, hating herself for feeling so weak. "Please, I'll be forever grateful, even Flaky Namikaze…"

She heard a female voice. "Good job Kit, now, where is she?"

"She's here somewhere…" Kushina knew that voice! It was Minato! She held her breath, would he be able to find her without any help. She was almost to the point where she wanted to scream. She wanted to go home and take a bath and sleep in her own bed! She wanted to hang out with Miki-chan and spy on the boys and play pranks and train! Why had this happened to her? Was this want she got for being a Jinjuuriki? She hated being weak!

She heard the sounds of something sniffing the air, like one of Tsume's nin-dogs, like Kuromaru-kun. "She's over here." She then heard shifting of fabric as something was pulled out.

Kushina bent her head to protect herself as the door was blasted open. Namikaze-kun must have set an Explosive Tag. When she lifted her head she saw her new favorite person on the whole planet. She couldn't help but giggle when Flaky show-off Namikaze Minato hurried to her side and untied her.

"Do you think you can move on your own?" Minato asked her softly, his diamond blue eyes warm and sparkling with concern.

"I don't think so…" She muttered sadly as she watched him untie the ropes. "I feel so useless…" she whined as the ropes fell. She lifted her hand and rubbed her eyes, trying to rub away the sleepiness that plagued her. She _had_ to be alert; that was what had gotten her into this situation in the first place!

"Don't be like that little one." Came the gentle female voice from before, Kushina looked up to see a huge four tailed ebony black fox with golden eyes. "You are safe now and that's what matters."

"Yeah, Ku-chan, don't be like that. Everyone has their off days." Minato gave her what looked like a reassuring grin.

"Even you?" Kushina asked him. Even the genius of her generation had off days? That was news to her! She ignored the endearment for now, right now she'd let him call her almost anything she was so happy to see him.

"Mmhmm, even me." Minato confessed; his expression and eyes flattened as the emotions drained away. "I had a bad _week_ before you came to Konoha, Ku-chan. I lost my mother."

Kushina looked down, she had not expected that. "But you always tell everyone she's on a mission." She almost felt bad for him.

"I do that, because I don't want anyone's pity." Minato told her curtly as he picked her up. "I don't want it, nor do I need it."

Kushina looked up at him wonderingly as he turned to the fox. "Shina-onee-sama, can you kneel down so that I can put Ku-chan on your back?"

"Of course Minato." Kushina watched the fox, 'Shina'; kneel as she was lifted slightly. Then Minato let her go when she was sitting just behind Shina's shoulders. "Minato-kit, it would be faster if you rode on my back also."

"Hai, Shina-onee-sama." Minato jumped up and settled himself in front of his crush. "Hold onto my waist tightly ok? Shina-onee goes really fast and we wouldn't want you to fall off, right?"

Kushina nodded. "…Right…" she brought her arms up to encircle Minato's waist and held on tightly. She closed her eyes. "What time is it?"

"Sunset." Minato answered, "There is no way that we are going to reach the village today. Plus, this is a solo mission because Iwa declared war several hours after you went missing. Hokage-sama couldn't spare a team to come so he chose the best of the graduating class."

Her arms tightened around him even more at the news. "Did they ever figure out what Kumo wanted with me?" She asked.

"Yeah, they did." Minato looked at her over his shoulder sadly. "I haven't been told, but Jiraiya-sensei promised that he'd tell us when we get back to the village."

"Minato, it's nearing curfew." Shina told them, "I'm going to stop soon so that you can set up a camp."

"Hai." Minato replied. Kushina looked at his hands for the first time and saw that his knuckles were nearly white. She was really fighting sleep now; the fox's movement under her was barely keeping her awake.

A few minutes later Shina came to a stop in a clearing. "I'm stopping here for the night Kits. Minato, you need to get her off my back, I'll get firewood while you secure the camp."

"Yes Onee-sama." Minato slid off her then he pulled Kushina off of the fox's back and into his arms, bridal style. "You ok?"

Kushina nodded and Minato put her down next to a bush before digging out a fire pit. "Can I do anything?" Kushina asked. "I hate feeling useless!"

"Well, you could get some rations out of my pack; it's right next to you. As for your legs, I think they might have used some kind of Jutsu on them to make them numb." Minato told her, pointing to the pack next to her.

Kushina nodded. "Ok." She opened the bag and pulled out a scroll labeled 'food'. She set it out next to her. "What else?" She quickly hid a yawn; she didn't want him to see her as weak.

"There is only one bedroll and it's rather large, because it belonged to my mother. You can pull that out too if you want to. I also have a blanket if you want that instead." Minato told her.

Kushina looked through the knapsack and pulled out the blanket.

Shina chose that minute to return with the firewood. "I'm back." She put the sticks next to the fire pit Minato had dug out and watched as Minato started a fire to cook their food.

"Onee-sama, can you grab the food scroll that Ku-chan pulled out earlier?" Minato asked as he lit the fire.

Shina nodded even though Minato wasn't looking at her and brought him the scroll. Kushina watched in awe as Minato cooked their dinner to perfection. It tasted wonderful!

"You should get to bed soon Minato; Mother wouldn't want you to make yourself sick now that you are her only protection." Shina nudged him with her nose.

Minato yawned. "You're right, Nee-chan, Okaa-sama would scold me…" Minato stretched as Shina seemed to grow in size until she almost filled the clearing. Minato then pulled out the bedroll.

Kushina watched Shina settle herself, her tails forming a bit of a roof over the two genin. Only a minute later, Minato came up and put her in the bedroll with her back against Shina's side. "What are you doing?"

He smiled. "Since you can't move I thought you might want to be in the middle, Shina-onee-sama, Kybi-okaa-sama [3] and I do it all the time. Shina and Okaa-sama are like furnaces so you won't get cold." He tactfully left out the fact that she would be better protected this way. She might not take it very well. Kushina nodded, not sure how to deal with this new side of Namikaze. She settled herself in the bedroll; there was just one thing she wanted to ask him before she fell asleep.

"How did you find me?" Kushina asked Minato as he curled up next to her on the bedroll.

"I noticed the trail of hair you left." Minato smiled, "how could I not, your hair is so pretty, everyone else who was looking for you must have been blind not to notice the beautiful red hair on the ground." [4]

She doesn't know why, but she finds herself blushing, she isn't quite as tired anymore as she stares at her rescuer (he thought her plain red hair was pretty?). And as she watches Minato settle down next to her, Kushina couldn't help but think that Minato might not be such a bad guy after all.

(End One-Shot)

I hope you liked it! There are a few things you need to know though. If Minato and Kushina seem a bit awkward, that was on purpose. Minato may know that he is in love with Kushina, but she doesn't now how to feel about him. Plus, Kushina is ten and isn't quite out of the 'boys are icky' stage yet, on top of being a tomboy. If it looks like Kushina's starting to develop a crush on Minato that's because she is.

Also, mind you. Minato might know that he loves Kushina, but he has no idea how to express it. So far, as I've hinted at, he has only shown off how good a ninja he is. He is only ten after all.

Now the Footnotes:

[1] Kyuubi is OOC, please don't flame me for it. At least I didn't make Kyuubi a girl. This Kyuubi is nice.

[2] We have no idea who her teammates were, so, instead of creating more OCs then I need, I just used characters we are familiar with. It's the same for her sensei. Yes I know they seen slightly OOC, This is Hizashi not Hiashi, a lot of twins develop this way, act alike when little and then grow apart as their interests change. And we know that Mikoto was Kushina's best friend so why not?

[3] These are My OCs! Please be kind when judging them! This is before Minato signs the Toad contract so sorry if you like them and wanted them in the story. Are they believable?

[4] This information is canon. In her conversation with Naruto, Kushina says that her hair became the thread that brought her to her soul mate and that she fell in love with Minato after he complemented her hair. Just thought I'd add that in.

Neph


End file.
